The anticipation for Sucker Punch’s Ghost of Yotei is high. With little more than a week before its release, some people started replaying Ghost of Tsushima, others try to finally earn the coveted platinum trophy. Yet, there are other ways to prepare for this highly anticipated release. What about delving into the filmic precursors, the films that inspired and shaped the game?

With a simple glance, it is evident that Sucker Punch, with Ghost of Yotei, seeks to blend two staples of Japanese cinema together: the figure of the Onryo featured within Japanese horror and the logic of revenge featured heavily in period drama. In this short article, we want to introduce people, who are new to the Japanese cinema, to a few easily accessible films to prepare themselves for the game and immerse themselves in the themes that the game will explore.

The image of the Onryo

Within Japanese horror, the Onryo is a vengeful spirit; a wronged being, generally female, whose grudge forces her to lash out violently, leaving a bloody trail of victims. Yet, the Onryo does not seek to punish individuals, but to attack the societal field that failed to prevent the traumatic tragedy that befell the Onryo before her untimely death. The Onryo attacks everyone, because everyone is complicit to society’s failure.

The reader, having read our short description of the Onryo in Japanese horror cinema, will have no difficulty to see why Sucker Punch utilized the image of the Onryo to qualify Atsu’s path of revenge. The very idea of the Ghost, as developed in Ghost of Tsushima, implies that the wronged subject turns himself into a lingering absent presence that strikes from the shadows.

To acquaint oneself with the dynamic of the Onryo, we recommend four J-horror classics: Ringu (1998), One missed call (2008), Kuroneko (1968), and Ju-on: The Grudge (2002).

Ringu (1998) by Hideo Nakata

Despite not having reviewed this film for my blog, it would be wrong to leave Nakata’s Ringu out of the list. Nakata delivers one of the most chilling illustrations of conjuction between the Onyro and technology – i.e. the videotape. If there are people who have not given this classic a watch, now is the time to right that wrong.

One Missed Call (2003) by Takashi Miike

While One Missed Call will not win any prizes for originality, Miike’s horror-narrative does provide all the thrills, and tropes for that matter, fans of J-horror have come to expect from the genre. That One Missed Call, despite its lack of originality, becomes so enjoying and thrilling is due to Miike’s masterful evocation of an atmosphere of looming danger and his ability to exploit subtle narrative incoherence for creating a sensible feeling of dread. 

Kuroneko (1968) by Kaneto Shindo

Kuroneko is not the feminist manifest some make it out to be and it is not a defense of paternalistic values either. Instead, the narrative of Kuroneko confronts the viewer with the dilemma between revenge and love, and with what lies beyond, unlimited enjoyment. The essence of the narrative is masterly translated on the screen by the stylistic and often minimalistic cinematography. And even though Kuroneko’s age is sensible in certain areas, Shindo has nevertheless crafted a seductive, mysterious and mesmerizing narrative that has stood the test of time. A true classic that everyone should see at least once.

Ju-on: The Grudge (2002) by Takashi Shimizu

Ju-On: The Grudge remains, after all these years, an effective horror film and a J-horror classic in its own right. While Shimizu’s horror flick might not offer an experience of atmospheric dread his teacher Kiyoshi Kurosawa is so well-known for, he masterfully utilizes his composition to heighten the spectator’s fearful anticipation and confront him with horror-imagery that, due to its stillness, will haunt the spectator long after the credits have rolled.

The image of the wandering revenger.

Ghost of Yotei combines the image of the vengeful spirit with the classic period drama trope of a woman wandering through the lands to take revenge on those brutally took away those who she held dear. In Lady Snowblood, for instance, the female wanderer seeks to enact revenge on those who brutally raped her mother and murdered her father and brother. Sex and Fury tells the tale of Ochô Inoshika and her quest to take revenge on her father’s murderers. Quick-draw Okatsu and Red Peony Gambler take a similar starting point for their tale of revenge.

These four films show that what can turn a woman into a killing machine of men is the thirst for revenge and the wish to settle the score and to cut out the perverse desire that festers within the societal field. These women do not merely predate Atsu, but offered Sucker Punch the mould from which she was cast.

Lady Snowblood (1973) by Toshiya Fujita

Lady Snowblood proves to be an expressionistic cinematographed revenge tale, with powerful and stylish imagery that lingers in one’s mind. Lady Snowblood may not have any really impressive set pieces, but empowered by the mesmerizing performance of Meiko Kaji, Fujita artfully translated Koike’s true purpose to the screen: the creation of a strong, beautiful demonic woman who turns cutting down people, with her beautiful sword, into an art.

Sex And Fury (1973) by Norifumi Suzuki

Sex and fury is an enticing and stylish cinematographical narrative. It provides a compelling narrative resolving around the theme of the power of female sexuality in a cultural playground thriving on male dominance. And even though some cinematographical choices are odd and unnecessary, it’s nevertheless the artful cinematography that makes Sex and fury so compelling, creating some of the most visual impressive scenes in Japanese cinematographical history. Furthermore, the cinematography enables Reiko ike’s attractiveness to be fully utilized, making her cinematographical presence as mesmerizing and irresistible as possible, washing away any bad taste the ‘performances’ of Mark Darling and Christina Lindberg may have left behind.

Legends of the poisonous seductress: Quick-draw Okatsu (1969) by Nobuo Nakagawa 

Quick-Draw Okatsu is a very entertaining revenge narrative. Nakagawa’s narrative does nothing to reinvent the genre, but he offers everything a spectator and fan has come to except from the genre: exciting action and violent exploitation. As a matter of fact, it is due to the impactful way of staging the various acts of exploitation that enables Okatsu’s trajectory of violent revenge to become so enjoyable.

Red Peony Gambler (1968) by Kosaku Yamashita 

What makes Kosaku Yamashita’s Red Peony Gambler a classic ninkyo narrative and a must-see for any cinephile is nothing other than Junko Fuji’s performance. Yamashita does not merely leverage Fuji’s beauty through his shot-compositions, but allows Junko Fuji to seductively breathe life into the nostalgic fantasy of chivalry, the non-existing subjective reality of moral purity.